Baragwanath Seminar

Landscape and Geological Heritage

School of Earth Sciences

The University of Melbourne

(Corner Swanston & Elgin Street)

Fritz Loewe Lecture Theatre (enter from the Second Level foyer)

Friday 30th August 2002

3.30 to 5.15 pm

Welcome and Introduction

Chair

Robert King, Manager, Minerals and Petroleum Regulation, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and formerly in charge of the Geological Survey regional mapping program (Robert.King@nre.vic.gov.au)

3.30 pm

The GSA and Geological Heritage in Victoria over the past 30 years - cataloguing, assessment and publication, and current work

Sue White, Convener, Subcommittee for Geological Heritage, Victorian Division, Geological Society of Australia Inc. (geosw@pop.latrobe.edu.au)

The Victorian subcommittee has several strands to its work. It also has established a statewide data base of sites. This presentation will outline the main areas of work, the relationship of the database to these and explain the process of selection and assigning significance to sites.

3.40 pm

Geological Heritage in the Melbourne area, the Victorian Divisional Subcommittee's recent report and a case study of the Council Trench at Bacchus Marsh

Mel Mitchell, member of the Subcommittee for Geological Heritage, Victorian

Division, Geological Society of Australia Inc. & Land Victoria, Department of

Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) (mel.mitchell@nre.vic.gov.au)

In 2000 the GSA Heritage subcommittee completed a report on the sites of geological significance identified in the MELBOURNE 1:250 000 mapsheet area. The report was published with the assistance of DNRE and provided for the first time an extensive listing of geological sites in the Port Phillip region. As a direct result of this publication, sites identified as significant to the geological community of Victoria have representation and are made accessible to a wider audience including regulatory and statutory authorities. Through this process the site known as the Council Trench at Bacchus Marsh was identified as and is now reserved as a site of Natural Interest.

3.45 pm

A local and national problem - vegetation guidelines for Geological Heritage sites

Lindy Cochrane, member of the Subcommittee for Geological Heritage, Victorian Division, Geological Society of Australia Inc. (mole@midnite.net.au)

Vegetation guidelines for Geological Heritage sites and features are being developed in response to a growing problem across Australia.

3.50 pm

Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Port Phillip & Western Port Catchments

Lisa Carpenter, Sites of Significance Project Officer, Aquatic Services, Melbourne Water Corp. (Lisa.Carpenter@melbournewater.com.au)

Recent establishment of a comprehensive and up-to-date database on geological & geomorphological, and botanical sites within the Port Phillip catchment, which presents information in a user friendly map format on MWC GIS computer system for Melbourne Water employees, for management decision support and in the assessment of planning referrals.

3.55 pm

Studies of sites of significance for the Victorian government

Neville Rosengren, Department of Physical Sciences & Engineering, LaTrobe University, Bendigo. (neville.rosengren@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au)

Neville Rosengren over the past 25 years has managed and conducted sites of significance surveys in most regions of Victoria, parts of the Kosciuszko National Park in NSW and the entire ACT. Surveys have been either regional e.g. East Gippsland or thematic e.g. Newer Volcanic Province. In Victoria, most have been sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (and its antecedent bodies) but studies have also been prepared as part of Environmental Effects Statements for developments proposed by the corporate sector. These include ski fields at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, wind farms at Cape Bridgewater and the Basslink electricity connector in South Gippsland. Examples of methodologies and site presentations are shown.

4.00 pm

The GSA and Geological Heritage in Australia over the past 30 years - cataloguing, assessment and publication, and the development of a Geological Heritage methodology

Bernie Joyce, Convener, Standing Committee for Geological Heritage, Geological Society of Australia Inc. (ebj@unimelb.edu.au)

The GSA initially based its work on ideas developed by Nature Conservancy in the UK in the 1960s, and has continued to develop its own approaches in each state over the past 30 years, working also with the Australian Heritage Commission. A formal methodology commissioned by the AHC was published in 1995 and this also reviewed past work and discussed aspects of World Heritage. Greater emphasis on geomorphology and landscape may be a future trend. Themes may be used to link sites and landscapes and explain their stories.

4.05 pm

The Australian Heritage Commission - Earth Science Heritage, past, present and future

Annabel Wheeler, Senior Conservation Officer, Natural Environment Section, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra. (awheeler@ahc.gov.au)

The Australian Heritage Commission has worked on the identification and protection of geological heritage as part of the Register of the National Estate over the last 25 years. These functions will change under the new Commonwealth heritage regime. The AHC has been particularly active in the assessment and promotion of geological places recently and continues to take the leading role within the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage in relation to the earth sciences.

4.15 pm

World Heritage Criteria and Australia: examples of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area, and Wilsons Promontory National Park

Geoff Mosley, Environmental Consultant, Peak Environmental Enterprises (mosenett@ozemail.com.au)

The World Heritage List is an international register of heritage places which are considered of outstanding universal significance. The selection of sites will be discussed. Australia's sites include the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area (see separate handout).

4.25 pm

Current status of earth heritage conservation in Taiwan, and the geomorphological features caused by the Chichi earthquake of 1999

Jeffrey Ho, Taiwan, currently in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, working on a Master leading to Ph.D. on eastern Taiwan. (geodiversity@hotmail.com)

In 1994, the Council of Agriculture, Taiwan formulated a five-year Earth Heritage Conservation Strategy. The three main themes in the strategy are åResearch, survey and registrationπ, åIncreasing public awarenessπ and åNational Systems Planning and Managementπ. Since 1994, almost 350 sites have been registered and several booklets and posters about geosites with National and Regional importance have been published. Earth heritage conservation workshops have been held not only for teachers, administrative and management personnel, but also for international exchange. In contrast, research in developing earth heritage conservation techniques suitable for Taiwan, and site planning and management are relatively weak. There are new approaches in site management, such as community and local involvement, stakeholder analysis, partnership, corporate planning, collaborative management, national system planning, capacity building and sustainable development. Countries with a mixture of different cultures and complicated political situations may have to develop their own approaches. On 21^st September 1999, the Chichi earthquake destroyed peopleπs lives and property in central Taiwan, but it also created marvelous geomorphological features in an instant. The most important and representative sites have been registered and designated as National Earthquake Monuments.

4.45 pm

Geosites in the Italian landscape: research, assessment and improvement

Paola Coratza, University of Modena (visiting the School of Earth Sciences until 17^th September 2002) (coratza.paola@unimo.it)

In Italy, as in most countries, the geological component of the landscape has not yet been given its real value as a cultural asset. It is therefore necessary to find new ways and strategies to increase the awareness and sensitivity not only of the scientific world and institutions but also of society in general. From this viewpoint, a project has been activated with the collaboration of the Department of Earth Sciences of Modena and Reggio Emilia University and the Emilia-Romagna Region ≠ Landscape, Parks and Natural Heritage Service. The aim of this project is to catalogue and rate the most important sites of geological interest, and develop cultural-tourist itineraries and educational routes. Such geological itineraries have a double aim: to promote the knowledge of Earth Sciences, so little widespread among media or public opinion; and to offer new professional perspectives to young or unemployed geologists.

5.05 pm

Discussion

The Inventory and Register approach of the past

This has been good for planning use, and for saving teaching and research sites, but where to now in Australia?

Sites v. Landscapes

The latter may be better for education, tourism, local interest and encouraging community ownership

Raising public awareness and interest

Ideas from Italy and Taiwan:

∑ using cultural links (history, aesthetics, literature)

∑ raising awareness through a disaster such as an earthquake event. In Australia, the Newcastle earthquake, Thredbo landslide.

Using popular geology: dinosaur discoveries, volcanic eruptions (of more public appeal than road cuttings?)

Retain a firm framework of sites for education and research (and maintain access for sampling, studying, dating), but also provide a more interesting landform/landscape story for the public

Themes - telling a story

The new AHC approach

World Heritage is similar

This approach help integration across a large area - the landscape, individual sites, processes past and present, and cultural aspects also

Some possible Australian themes:

∑ Gondwana glaciation

∑ onset of aridity in Australia

∑ young volcanicity and tectonics in an active Australian landscape

in summary:

Sites lead on to Stories

5.15 pm

Further discussion over refreshments in the 4th Floor Tea Room.

There is no charge to attend the Baragwanath Seminar, but a charge of $3.00 will be made for the post-seminar refreshments (small change appreciated).

Some references

Bertacchini, M, P. Coratza & S. Piacente (2002) - Paesaggi Culturali - Geologia e Letteratura nel Novecento in Emilia Romagna. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Servizio Tutela del Paesaggio, Inchiostro Blu Ed., Bologna.

Coratza, Paola & Mauro Marchetti (eds) 2002. Geomorphological sites: research, assessment and improvement. Proceedings of the Workshop held in Modena (Italy), 19-22 June 2002. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita degli Studi Modena e Re3ggio Emilia. 110pp.

Joyce, Bernie. 1997. Assessing Geological Heritage. Chapter 6 in Rolan Eberhard (ed.) Pattern & Process - Towards a Regional Approach to National Estate Assessment of Geodiversity. 1997 Technical Series No 2, Environment Australia, Canberra. pp. 35-40.

Joyce, E. B. 1995. Assessing the Significance of Geological Heritage: A methodology study for the Australian Heritage Commission. A report prepared for the Australian Heritage Commission by the Standing Committee for Geological Heritage of the Geological Society of Australia Inc.19pp.

Mitchell, M. M., Cochrane, R. M. & King, R. L. 2000, Sites of geological significance in the MELBOURNE 1:250 000 mapsheet area, Geological Survey of Victoria Technical Record 2000/1.

Mosley, J. G. 2002. International and World Heritage Values of Wilsons Promontory National Park. Report to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria. DNRE Victoria, 71pp.

Rosengren, N. 1994. Eruption Points of the Newer Volcanics Province of Victoria. National Trust of Australia (Victoria) & Geological Society of Australia (Victorian Division).

Rosengren, N. J. 1984. Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Westernport Bay Catchment. E.S.P. No. 401. Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands. pp. 513 + maps.

Wang, Shin, Kuang Chung Lee and Andy King. "Eastern Promise"- Earth heritage conservation in Taiwan. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/earthheritage/module/ehmeast.htm(Accessed 22 August 2002)

The Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan http://www.earth.sinica.edu.tw/921/921chichi_main_eng.htm

Wang, S., Sheu, L.-Y. and Tang, H.-Y. (1994) Conservation of geomorphological landscapes in Taiwan. From OπHalloran, D., Green, C., Harley, M., Stanley, M. & Knill, J. (eds.), Geological and Landscape Conservation. Geological Society, London, pp. 113-115.